METALTALK • OCTOBER 2021
BOKASSA
MOLOTOV ROCKTAIL - NO THIRD ALBUM SYNDROME Bokassa has had a whirlwind trip. Releasing their debut album Divide And Conquer in 2017, the band were Lars Ulrich’s “favourite new band” and were invited onto Metallica’s Worldwired Tour.
and Russia. It was insanely cool.
The third Bokassa album, Molotov Rocktail, was released last month and is perfect evidence that third album syndrome is not an issue for this Norwegian trio.
Crimson Riders was released in 2019 during the tour, and Jørn says it was very well received. “We released it halfway through the tour, so we didn’t get a chance to concentrate that much on the album release since we were on this big tour that had all of our attention, but I think it went down well.”
During the Metallica tour, Bokassa released their second album Crimson Riders, and that period was a rewarding experience. “It was a very surreal feeling and an unreal experience,” vocalist/guitarist Jørn Kaarstad told MetalTalk. “Here we were, an unknown band from Norway, supporting the world’s biggest Heavy Metal band on some of the biggest stages in Europe, the UK
“Every day was a great experience. New places and new cities that we’d never been to before. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
The album certainly helped the band get noticed more, and they recently signed to Napalm Records, another fascinating step up for the band. “Napalm had been following us for a while,” Jørn says, “and we felt the step was right to move over there at this time. It’s very cool to be on the same label as Monster Magnet.”
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The new album, Molotov Rocktail, is a monster of an album and is packed with eleven superb riff-based tracks. It is quite apparent that the band have smashed third album syndrome out of the park. “Thank you so much,” Jørn says. “We are absolutely thrilled with it—our best work to this day. I think you can really hear the musical evolution in Bokassa on Molotov Rocktail.” This album is more of a team effort. In the past, Jørn was the main songwriter for the band. “I still write the songs,” Jørn says, “but this time around Bård and Olav contributed riffs to some of the songs, which is great because it takes some of the pressure off me, especially when it’s such a great riff as the bridge riff for Hereticules that Bård had.” The name Bokassa comes from an African dictator. There are serious lyrics in many of their songs, but there are some fun songs in between, which
